Prison for mother who killed baby by force feeding

A nurse was jailed for three years today after killing her baby by force-feeding her in the first case of its kind in Britain.

Gloria Dwomoh, 31, was found guilty at the Old Bailey last month of causing or allowing the death of 10-month-old Diamond.

She was said to be obsessed with Diamond's weight and poured liquidised food down her throat with a jug when she was weaning her.

Diamond died in March last year after being taken to hospital near her home in Waltham Forest.

A post-mortem examination found she died from pneumonia caused by food, including meat and cereals, in her lungs.

Sentencing, the Common Serjeant of London Brian Barker QC said Dwomoh had been obsessed by the fear that her child was losing weight and had ignored health workers' warnings that her style of feeding was potentially dangerous.

"This was a prolonged and deliberate course of conduct, at best it was a misguided obsession but it was a determined obsession that caused prolonged and daily distress to your daughter," he said.

"It cannot be described as an act of kindness. You took her life and that is something you must live with."